Former Jones Senior High School principal Pascal Mubenga said changing the “culture” of the school was how he brought it out of a turnaround status a few years ago.

He made a triumphant return to campus Wednesday with 12 North Carolina principals to brainstorm developmental strategies for education. Jones Senior is one of nine schools to be toured by the group.

In 2006, the state was ready to clean house at Jones Senior because it was designated a priority school based on low end-of-course composite scores.

Mubenga was principal for four years, starting in 2007.

At 50.9 percent when he started, Jones Senior’s scores are now in the high 80s — dubbing it a school of distinction.

“You have to make sure that you have good people surrounding you,” Mubenga said, who is now a school transformation coach with the state’s Department of Public Instruction. “You hire the best and you raise expectations for students and staff and get that community buy in from parents as well.

“That’s how we were able to do it.”

He toured campus impressed with how current principal Chris Meadows — who worked as Mubenga’s assistant principal for two years — has sustained and increased the school’s success.

“He’s doing a fabulous job,” Mubenga said of Meadows. “When a principal leaves, the school pretty much goes down at a lot of places across the state.”

The two leaders said they worked well together because they shared the same educational philosophies.

“We’re both pretty relaxed, we both have a similar leadership style,” Meadows said. “From Day 1, we hit it off.”

They’ve been having frequent discussions to prepare for the principals’ gathering. Mubenga visited a month ago to plan which strategies would be highlighted.

He was most impressed with the technology initiative that provided each staff member and student with Apple Macbook laptops.

“Based on the stories I’m hearing, they’re doing really well,” he said. “The kids are taking the laptops home and protecting them like their own.”